MadFireGod

  The days passed quickly, and it had now been four days since Fan Biyu received treatment from Dr. Chi. The massage therapy with Jin Shu rogressing well; she no longer winced in pain during the sessions, and she had grot at using the wheelchair to navigate the Jin manor’s spacious grounds.

  This m, she was seated fortably iraining room, watg Jin Shu and Li Xue sparring.

  Jin Shu luoward Li Xue, his left fist darting forward with lightning speed. Li Xue dodged to her left, but his attack was a feint. His true move—a powerful right-handed uppercut—arced toward her stomach.

  Before the blow could nd, Li Xue vanished, reappearing behind him in an instant. Her right fist shed out, aimed directly at the ter of his back.

  Jin Shu dropped to the floor, narrowly evading the strike. He had fallen for this trick before and wasn’t about to let it wain. His leg swept out in a low artending to trip her feet.

  Li Xue jumped, avoiding the sweep effortlessly.

  Jin Shu smirked—he had been waiting for this. Rising like a coiled viper, he shed out with another uppercut, this time perfectly timed to catch her midair.

  Li Xue reacted instantly, twisting her body and ung a kick aimed at his head.

  Jin Shu tilted his head just enough to evade the strike, her foot passing harmlessly by.

  He saw his opening. Instead of striking her vulnerable midair position, his arm curved around her waist, pullioward him. In a fluid motion, he caught her against his chest.

  “You lost,” he said, his voice steady as his gaze locked onto hers. He held her securely, their faces mere inches apart.

  Li Xue’s hot, panting breaths filled the space between them. Her eyes searched his, and slowly, she began to inch closer.

  “Ahem!”

  The sharp sound broke the moment like a sring. Both turoward the er of the training room, where Fan Biyu sat watg them. Her expression ointed, her gaze cutting through the tension like a bde.

  Jin Shu cleared his throat awkwardly aly released Li Xue, stepping back. Li Xue straightened herself, brushing off invisible dust as though nothing had happened.

  Fan Biyu’s lips twitched, but she said nothing. Her poiare spoke volumes.

  Jin Shu excused himself to wash up before practig his runes. He had a new set he was determio master by the end of the week.

  ***

  That evening, Jin Shu performed Fan Biyu’s massage as usual. However, it was being increasingly difficult for him to keep his posure. Her pain had long siuro pleasure, and instead of pained yelps, her bored breaths filled the room. Each sou a wave of heat through his adolest body, making it harder for him to focus oask at hand.

  ***

  By the fifth m, Jin Shu and Li Xue had settled into their new sparring routihis time, however, Fan Biyu decided to get involved, unsolicited advice from the sidelines.

  “Xue, don’t dodge with your whole body! You’re faster; you make smaller adjustments!”

  Li Xue hesitated for a moment before nodding. She began shifting her movements, starting with broad adjustments and gradually refining them as the spar progressed. By the end, her dodges had bee so precise they were nearly imperceptible.

  “Shu, you’re not using enough footwork! Look at Xue—she’s running circles around you!”

  Jin Shu, who had been holding a stationary defeance, frow the critique. Following Fan Biyu’s advice, he switched to a more fluid approach, blending martial art footwork from boxing, taekwondo, and karate. His erratic, boung movements disrupted Li Xue’s rhythm, causio misstep during a dodge.

  Bam! “Ah!”

  Li Xue staggered backward, clutg her chest where Jin Shu’s fist had nded. Luckily, her ample padding absorbed most of the blow, though it still left her wing.

  “You! This is all your fault—I was just about to win!” she snapped, marg over to Fan Biyu and jabbing a finger in her face.

  “You were going to lardless,” Fan Biyu said with a dismissive wave.

  “You—!” Li Xue stomped her foot in frustration. After a moment, she huffed and crossed her arms. “How old are you, anyway?”

  Fan Biyu raised an eyebrow, looking her up and down. “Why? Feeling insecure about being smaller?” she teased.

  Li Xue gred, puffing up her chest. “I’m een! I bet I’m older!”

  Fan Biyu gave a nont nod. “I’m oeen, not yet an old woman like you.”

  “Argh!” Li Xue reached out as if to yank Fan Biyu from her wheelchair but stopped herself just in time.

  “What? Thinking of res to violence against an injured person?” Fan Biyu asked with a sly smile.

  Li Xue ched her fists, f herself to calm down. Then her expression turned smug. “I’m older, so I’ll be the main wife,” she decred triumphantly, crossing her arms.

  Fan Biyu smirked, unfazed. “Hmph, too bad for you. Master already promised that I’ll be the main wife,” Fan Biyu shot back, her tone equally defiant.

  Li Xue raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Who’s your master? Why do they get to decide that?”

  “My master is Jin Shu’s mother!” Fan Biyu’s chest puffed up with pride.

  Li Xue’s mouth hung open in shock. “...Fine, you have the main wife spot. But! I’m g sed wife!”

  “I’m nuing,” Fan Biyu replied with a shrug, raising her hands in surrender.

  “Really?”

  Fan Biyu nodded.

  “Really, really?”

  “Yes!”

  “Oh, good.” Li Xue beamed, suddenly pleased with herself.

  Jin Shu, meanwhile, y on the floor of the training room, pretending to be oblivious as he watched the two girls bicker over him. Internally, however, he was anything but calm. His two split psyches—one adult, one child—were on the verge of g again. The adult psyche couldn’t ighe stark age difference of a decade or more between him and the girls, while the child psyche argued that this was the perfect ce to secure two beauties for life. The internal debate was growing louder, pulling his fragile mental e apart.

  He needed a solution, and fast.

  Suddenly, Jin Shu felt a warmth spreading from under his robes, over his heart. Pulling his colr aside, he saw the Rune of Unity glowing softly. The light seemed to knit the e between his psyches back together, but it came at a cost—his qi was draining rapidly. Worse, the two sides of his mind were still arguing. He o find a promise, even quicker.

  Then, aruck him.

  He could follow his younger psyche’s suggestion, with a slight adjustment. Aowledging the girls didn’t have to be in the sexual way his younger self imagined. His adult psyche’s perspective was more measured—they were still young, and there lenty of time ahead. In this world, he was youhan them, after all. If he gave them time, perhaps they’d realize they didn’t want to be with him after all.

  Both psyches immediately rejected that st thought. Surprisingly, the reje brought them into perfect synicity, and the mental e stabilized entirely.

  Jin Shu stood up and approached the girls. “Shouldn’t I get a say in who bees my main wife?”

  The girls looked up at him as though he’d lost his mind.

  “What are you talking about?” Li Xue asked, genuine fusion c her tone.

  “I mean you twuing over me,” Jin Shu said with a chuckle.

  The girls exged gnces. A flicker of uanding passed between them before they turned ba.

  “We seriously don’t know what you’re saying,” they replied in unison, their voices deadpan.

  Jin Shu hesitated. They sounded so ving that he started to doubt himself. Still, he pressed on.

  “Whatever the case,” he said, straightening up, “you’re both mine. And if either of you wants the main wife spot, you’d better behave.”

  The words slipped out before he could stop them. A wave of embarrassment surged, but he masked it with a ugh as he walked out of the training room, leaving two furiously blushing girls behind.